Wind Turbine on Extreme Home Makeover

Did you see the wind turbine featured on Extreme Home Makeover? It was installed to cover about half of the home's electric bill each month. Given how big they build the homes on Extreme Home Makeover, covering half the bill is really impressive!

While I'm actually building my own residential wind turbine (you can read about my misadventures with a wind kit on my blog), I think a pre-built residential wind turbine like the Windspire is a great idea if you don't have the time or inclination to build your own.

The reason I'm building my own wind turbine goes far beyond the money savings (though they're significant--in the neighborhood of several thousand dollars) and extends to a desire to have complete control over what the final product looks like. Traditional residential wind turbines are cumbersome--too tall for most neighborhoods, ugly and noisy. And up until I saw the Windspire on Extreme Home Makeover, I thought my only alternative was to build my own.

While the Windspire is pricey, it's no where near as expensive as previous turbines. It's other benefits include being only 30 feet tall (which means it might just be short enough to suit your neighborhood), being *paintable* so you can choose any color for it you'd like, and being really quiet.

To learn more about the wind turbine from Extreme Home Makeover, you might enjoy this video from ABC about the installation. Then, check out the official site on the Windspire to see if this is the right residential wind turbine for your home. (And, if you'd like to build your own wind turbine, join me at my blog.)